


Better Than Drinking Alone

by TheVioletSunflower



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Nonbinary Character, Gen, Hamid and Cel share their feelings and a bottle of brandy, Takes place mid-ep 131, Trans Character, discussions of transphobia but no characters in it are transphobic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:53:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24077809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower
Summary: Cel is nervous about their medical exam with Zolf. Hamid tries to comfort them.
Relationships: Background Hamid/Zolf, Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom
Comments: 5
Kudos: 77





	Better Than Drinking Alone

There was a soft knock on the door. “Um, Cel? Can I come in?”

Cel groaned and took another swig from their bottle of sake. “What do you want?” they demanded.

“You seemed upset. I wanted to check you were okay.”

Cel closed their eyes and banged their head back against the lab bench they were leaning against. “Yeah, well, I’ve been worse.”

There was a slight pause from the other side of the door. “Um. So is that a no then?”

They sighed. “No. I mean yes. I mean. Ugh. Just come in.”

Cel didn’t look up when they heard the door latch open, but out of the corner of their eye they saw Hamid freeze in the doorway of the lab, clearly taken aback by the sight of them slumped on the floor with a bottle of sake. “Oh my,” he said softly.

Cel’s only response was to snort and take another swig of alcohol.

Hamid slowly walked toward them, his hands fiddling nervously with the buttons on his waistcoat. “Can- can I do anything to help?”

Cel finally looked at him. “It’s fine Hamid. Really. I’ll be okay.” They wiped tears off their face and forced a smile.

Hamid crouched in front of them. “Do you want a hug?”

Cel’s free arm instinctively raised to protect their chest. They sighed and forced themself to relax. “I- No, Hamid. It’s fine. I- I really just don’t want to be touched right now.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s fine. Um. What if I just sat quietly beside you and didn’t touch you?”

The corner of Cel’s mouth twitched slightly. “Yeah. Yeah that’d be all right.”

Hamid settled down beside them and waved his hand in a complex pattern, causing two glasses to appear. He filled them from a bottle of brandy out of his bag of holding and passed one over. “Here. This’ll be stronger than your sake.”

“Thanks.” Cel downed the brandy in a single gulp. No sooner had they put the glass back down than Hamid was filling it again. They smiled and held it up. “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” Hamid replied, smiling at them and sipping from his own glass.

They sat together in silence for a while, passing the brandy back and forth. Between the alcohol and the quiet company, Cel slowly felt themself relax. They smiled as they watched Hamid pour them yet another glass. “Thanks, Hamid. You’re- you’re a really nice guy.”

He smiled back at them, pushing the glass toward them. “Of course. Any time.”

Cel took another swallow of brandy before speaking again. “My quarantine ends today.”

“Oh.”

“Zolf’s doing the medical exam in a bit.”

“Oh,” he said again. Then after a slight pause: “Cel, I know you’re nervous. But that’s probably a good sign. I don’t know a lot about this thing, but I think if you were infected it would have taken over your brain and you wouldn’t be worried about it.”

Cel shook their head, staring into their glass. “It’s not that. It’s the exam. I don’t like people looking at me. Without my clothes.”

“He’s not going to hurt you, you know. He’s not even going to touch you.”

“I know. But he’s going to think different about me after this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m an enigma. A weird genderless nothing who doesn’t fit the boxes and nobody knows where to place. And I like it that way. When he sees me without my kit on, he’ll know. He’ll see what I look like under this. And he’ll never think of me that way again.”

“Oh. I- I’m sorry. I know how hard gender can be.”

They snorted. “No you don’t. I appreciate the sympathy but no cis guy has any fucking clue how hard gender can be.”

“Who says I’m a cis guy?”

That made them look up. “Wait, what?”

Hamid was blushing hard. “I’m… not cis? Don’t tell anyone, but…” He rolled up his sleeve to the elbow, revealing a tattoo on his forearm that shifted as Cel watched in a way that they knew meant it was magic writing.

Hamid smiled at their inquisitive expression. “It’s the only spell I ever learned the proper wizard way. I cast it every morning and it hides my chest until I fall asleep.”

Cel stared, mouth hanging slightly open. “That’s… wow. That’s a good spell. Can- can you cast it on me?”

Hamid rolled his sleeve back down and shook his head, looking regretful. “Sorry. I can only cast it on myself. That’s just how the spell works. But if you like I could try to show you how to do it yourself. It takes a lot of time and effort to learn, but it works really well.”

Cel smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks, Hamid.”

“Of course.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking. The silence was tangibly more comfortable now that they had a shared secret between them.

Hamid was the first to break the silence. “Cel?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about Zolf. He’s a good guy. I know it’s a little different with the whole nonbinary thing, but he’s seen me before I do the spell plenty of times, and he never seems to think of me as anything other than a man.”

“Really?”

Hamid nodded. “I was scared too at first. First time I slept in his bed I planned to wake up first and do the spell right away before he could see me. But when I woke up, he was already awake and watching me. I almost had a panic attack. But he didn’t even comment on it. He just kissed my nose, told me I was cute when I slept, and got up to make breakfast.”

Cel whistled softly. “Wow, that- that’s amazing.”

“Yeah. It was.”

“Sounds like you got yourself a really great guy.”

Hamid turned bright red and looked down at his glass. “He is. He really is.”

“Who is?”

Cel and Hamid both jumped at the voice. Neither of them had heard Zolf come in.

“Oh Hamid was just telling me how great his boyfriend is,” Cel teased, laughing as Hamid’s blush deepened and he hid his face in his hands.

“I see,” Zolf said, clearly trying to conceal his amusement. “So, Cel? Are you ready for the physical?”

Cel looked to Hamid, who uncovered his face enough to give them an encouraging smile. “Yeah. Yeah I think I am.”

Hamid stood, still smiling. “Well then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me.”

He turned to leave. As he reached the door, Cel called after him, “Hamid wait!” They chugged the last of their drink and chased after him, falling to their knees in front of him to even out their heights before throwing their arms around him. “Thank you, Hamid.”

Hamid hugged them back with a smile. “Of course. That’s what friends are for.”

After a moment, Cel released Hamid and stood up, turning to Zolf. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know Hamid probably wouldn’t be able to cast a shapeshifting spell as a relatively-untrained wizard but it’s my story so shhhhh


End file.
